GALLUP, N.M., Nov. 8, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Rehoboth McKinley Christian Health Care Services (RMCHCS) is the first hospital in New Mexico honored with a “Patient Safety Excellence Award” for five consecutive years. The award by Healthgrades, the leading US provider of comparable data on approximately 4,500 acute care hospitals and more than three million physicians, ranks RMCHCS in the top 10 percent of the nation’s hospitals for patient safety. Categories include preventing infections, medical errors, and other complications based on 14 standard patient safety indicators.

RMCHCS is distinguished in the survey with “overall patient safety” by patients “who would definitely recommend RMCH” and gave the hospital a 9 or 10 out of 10 rating. Specific categories the hospital is recognized for include:

· Staff provides patients with rating information.

· Nurses always communicate well.

· Doctors always communicate well.

· Patient room cleanliness.

· Patient pain is always well controlled.

· Patients always received help as soon as they requested it.

· Staff always explains patient procedures.

· Patients always enjoy quiet at night.

The ratings are based on multiple-question surveys developed by the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS). Healthgrades obtains this survey data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and is not influenced by hospitals or care providers.

“I am extremely proud of our hospital staff for delivering some of the best patient safety care in the US,” said RMCHCS CEO David Conejo who is also the Chairman of the New Mexico Rural Health Network. “We all work very hard to maintain these high standards and being recognized by the community is a great honor. This award signifies the importance of the hospital and community relationship that enables us to all work together to achieve continued success and recognition for the City of Gallup.”

HealthGrades 2019 evaluation of US hospitals reveals the importance of consumer access to high-quality care and analyzes the performance of nearly 4,500 hospitals nationwide as measured by risk-adjusted mortality and complication rates. This analysis identifies the top-performing hospitals, namely those whose outcomes are statistically significantly better than expected.

“Consumers have many choices for healthcare, but most important is understanding that there is a significant variation in care from hospital to hospital and doctor to doctor. In fact, hospitals within proximity to each other can have significant differences in complication and mortality rates for the same condition or procedure,” said Brad Bowman, Chief Medical Officer, Healthgrades in a press release. “The analysis of hospital quality is intended to spotlight the importance of doing your homework before selecting your care. It could be a matter of life or death.”

Healthgrades is dedicated to empowering stronger and more meaningful connections between patients and their healthcare providers. At www.healthgrades.com, we help millions of consumers a month to find and schedule appointments with their provider of choice. With our scheduling solutions and advanced analytics applications, we help more than 500 hospitals across the country to cultivate new patient relationships, improve patient access, and build customer loyalty. At HealthGrades, better health gets a head start.